Let me guess. I had you all the way up to the word fasting,
right? That’s when I shut down the first time I heard of IF as well. But lets
be honest here, the only reason we are so steadfast in our beliefs that going extended
periods of time with no food is simply because we were told so. Whether it was
your doctor, your mother/family, or your government, I am sure you were told
that you need your 3 square meals a
day. I am assuming that none of us have performed our own studies to
investigate the advantages or disadvantages of human eating schedules. And by
all means, if you have, I would like to encourage you to comment on this post
and explain what you have found, because I have had trouble finding good
studies on the subject.

I will challenge the theory that we need three square meals
a day or more, depending on which diets you subscribe to, and say this theory
isn’t much better than a well executed rumor. A bunch of people have told us
that this is the way we should eat, so we believed them. Now before you get all
upset that this sounds like some conspiracy theory, let me take this time to
remind you that you are on a blog discussing the benefits of a Paleolithic
diet. The same diet that refuses to accept the nutritional standards that have
been set forth for us for the past 50+ years. So please join me in an attempt
to debunk another commonly practiced standard in nutrition.

Now before we go any further we need to have a reasonable
and acting definition of the term Intermittent Fasting. So we all have a strong
grasp of what we mean by the term. Broken down, fasting is simply defined as
abstaining from all, or some kinds of food or drink. And intermittent is
defined as stopping or ceasing for a time; alternately ceasing and starting
again. Therefore we can conclude that a reasonable and acceptable definition
for Intermittent
fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating that
alternates between periods of fasting
and non-fasting. All this to say that we all partake in IF, and usually
do so daily. Unless you are waking up periodically throughout the night to
pound down some more food, you are probably operating at a 12/12 eating
schedule. That is 12 hours of fasting followed by 12 hours of feasting.

Hopefully, everyone is now fully on board considering I have
taken some of the pain out of the negative connotations that can accompany the
term IF. Also, we have an acting definition for IF, and learned that all of us,
to some extent, participate in IF. Now seems to be the most opportune time to
go a little bit further and look at some of the more common practices of IF. Of
course, by definition you can simply go random periods of times without
consuming food, but I would discourage this. And if it makes you feel any
better, so would a bunch of people that paid lots of money and time to gain a
formal education in nutrition.

12/12 (12 hours of fasting/12 hours of feasting)

As we previously found, this is the IF practice that most of
the world adheres to. A common example of this practice is an individual who
may finish dinner sometime around 8:00 p.m. and not eat again until they have
breakfast the next morning at 8:00 a.m. Typically individuals will eat three
meals during their 12 hour feast period, including a breakfast, lunch, and
dinner. There are also variations to this practice, with more meals during the
feasting period. Typically ranging from 4-6 smaller meals throughout the 12
hour feast period. Recently there has been more and more nutrition experts that
have been promoting the variation of more frequent smaller meals throughout the
day for a healthier lifestyle.

16/8 (16 hours fasting/8 hours feasting) Also known as LeanGains

This is the style of fasting that I have found best, and I
have found most highly recommended. I have to throw out some credit here, and
state that the leading expert in this style of fasting is Martin Berkhan. All
of his information can be found at www.leangains.com
I would highly recommend checking out his page.

In most cases, for this style of fasting, individuals would
simply extend their 12 hour fast by skipping breakfast. This is typically the
easiest style of fasting because most people like to go to bed satiated and
don’t mind going an extended period in the morning without food.

20/4 (20 hours fasting/4 hours feasting)

This is a less common style of IF, but is an option none the
less. I have not attempted this style of fasting for myself, so once again, if
you have some good experiences I would like to encourage you to let me know.
Similarly to the 16/8 IF approach. You simply extend your typical 12 hour fast,
but this time all the way to dinner.

There are a couple of reservations that I have with this
approach. One being that I believe an individual can get best results by having
a very large post workout meal when fasting. This becomes more difficult with
only a four hour feasting window.

Also, I do not believe that IF should cause an individual to
drop their daily or weekly calorie count. This becomes very difficult to
accomplish under the 20/4 approach. And if an individual can successfully put
down a full days worth of calories in only four hours, it isn’t necessarily a
good thing. There are a number of studies out there that show that high of a
calorie load in such a short time frame can induce serious gastrointestinal
problems.

If you decide to give this approach a try, I would encourage
you to invest a little money in a branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplement. The
best way I have seen this explained is BCAA’s are basically food for your
muscles. It typically takes our meals six to seven hours to digest. And even
longer for amino acids to fully assimilate.
So even with IF you typically have a constant stream of amino acids flowing.
However with a 20/4 approach, I feel you might be pushing it a bit. (This is a
bit of a flash forward but I would recommend a BCAA supplement to anyone active,
especially someone who adheres to intense exercise and is also experimenting
with IF.)

36/12 (36 hours fasting/12 hours feasting) Also known as
Alternate Day Fasting *ADF

If you feel this approach seems rather extreme, I would have
to agree. You go one day without eating, then eat the next. First of all, I
find it extremely difficult for an individual to meet their weekly caloric
goals with this approach.

Also, it would be extremely difficult for an active person
to successfully adhere to this program. An individual would have to decide
between working out with no post workout meal, or only working out half the
week. (Again if you are to try this, please supplement with BCAA’s)

Even though I have not yet attempted this IF approach, I
have read some good reasons for trying the 36/12 approach at least once. The
majority of my findings on this approach have come from Dr. John Berardi. His
information can be found at www.precisionnutrition.com

He makes the valid point that a large portion of the world
has or is currently facing periods of hunger. It can be very enlightening to
experience this prolonged period of hunger.

Learning the difference between psychological hunger and
physiological hunger. Simply put, the human body gets trained to eat and crave
at a certain time of day. And when this time of day comes to pass, your brain
will tell your body to eat whether you truly need to or not. I have experienced
this for myself during a 20/4 IF and I agree that when your body actually
requires sustenance, it will let you know. It is extremely beneficial for a
person to know this difference between psychological hunger and physiological
hunger when experimenting with IF.

WHAT I FOUND

I have found IF to be very successful. There is a laundry
list of benefits. I have more energy throughout the day, I get to eat more at
each meal, weight loss, leaning out, and I can be more lenient on my frequency
of meals. While researching IF I found that there is no direct correlation
between the frequency of meals and the speed of one’s metabolism. This came
with great relief. This meant no more taking food everywhere with me, and
stressing every two hours that I need my meals or my body was going to start
devouring my muscles.

MY SAMPLE DAY

I would like to preface my sample day with some information
regarding my diet. I adhere to a Paleo Diet, and am close to 100%. I do not
count calories or nutrients. But I am very mindful of them both.

Also, during IF and Paleo it is very important that an
individual receives at least eight hours of sleep a night. This sleep needs to
be in a completely black room and fairly restless.

Finally, it is important that you experiment with IF only in
a stress free environment. This will prove to have the best results. And when
starting out you might be a little irritable while adjusting.

*I rotate training
between Crossfit, Aerobic cardiovascular, and Olympic Weight Lifting training.
I also perform two a days a maximum of three days a week. Typically rotating
every other day.

I hope you find this information helpful. Also I would like
to make it very clear- I am not a doctor
or a nutritional expert!! I have spent a lot of time researching IF and do
adhere to a Paleolithic diet.

4 comments:

I did come across this. I haven't read the book in its entirety, but have read a number of excerpts. From what I have read, I agree it is a great book with tons of insight and knowledge. Thank you for adding that. I hope you enjoyed!